The purpose of the World's City Profiles is to provide a concise overview of the main issues facing the world's cities. The World's City Profiles offer a unique opportunity to draw attention to some of the major problems facing cities, the solutions adopted and some of the best practices. The city profiles are complementary to the Global Urban Indicators Database, published in the GUO CD-ROM 2001.

City profiles have been written by urban data and policy specialists in cities. The content of city profiles does not necessarily reflect the views and expert opinions of UNCHS (Habitat).